The team behind the event, held at the historic Babylon theatre, were eager to continue plans despite most major film festivals around the world being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It seems like these restrictions are going to be our new normal, so do we keep on going and adapt to them, or do we give up?” said Mathali Rao Vadapalli, Director of The Tagore Centre for Indian culture in Berlin.
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“We feel like we have to keep things moving. Culture binds people, it’s one link we shouldn’t give up.”
Those attending the premiere on Thursday evening occupied every second seat and wore compulsory masks during the screening and the premiere’s introduction.
From Bombay to Berlin
Whether hosting the sprawling Indian Fest Frankfurt, or launching the first Hindi radio station in 2018, the Indian community in Germany continues to grow and make itself known.
As a whole, there are more than 100,000 Indians living in Germany, and 175,000 of Indian origin. Mostly they call Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt home, but can also be found in the smallest of villages throughout Germany.
The festival hopes to create and maintain relationships between Indian and German culture as well as well as between the two film industries.
A woman flips through the official festival programme. Photo courtesy of organisers.
“Berlinale has become really popular within India, it’s the first film festival that happens at the beginning of the year," said Vadapalli.
"Last year we had a very big Bollywood presence at the films. We have also had a number of Indo-German co-productions.”
With a programme of more than 20 films, the IndoGerman festival portrays a diverse range of cinema from across India.
The festival's films follow the general theme of men and women in situations of upheaval and change, fitting during the coronavirus period.
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Potential highlights include the award-winning Keralan-based director Sajin Baabu’s ‘Briyaani - Falours of Flesh’, the story of a married Muslim woman whose brothers were radicalised to join the Islamic State.
For the first time in its history, the festival will also show films for a younger audience in combinations with the children and youth film festival SIFFCY.
The programme is complemented by documentaries like Breaking Barriers: The Casteless Collection, in which German director Maja Meiners highlights the successful journey of a protest band from Chennai who fight for human rights amid the caste system.
Weekly Live Talks, designed to complement the festivals programme, will be broadcast live on Zoom and Facebook.You can see the full festival programme here, and buy tickets here.
The programme stretches from September 24th through 30th.
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